Child sex abuse victims to receive national apology1:47

The Prime Minister has announced he will offer a national apology to survivors of institutional child sex abuse before the end of the year.
Parliament has united in its condemnation of the harrowing stories of historical abuse.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has paid tribute to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard who established the commission.
However a survivor has told Sky News that an apology from the government is not enough.

Former Adass Israel School principal Malka Leifer has been arrested in Israel, 10 years after fleeing Australia. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

THE overseas arrest of a Melbourne schoolteacher who ‘faked’ a mental illness to avoid extradition on child sex charges after fleeing Australia 10 years ago, has been greeted with ‘overwhelming emotion’ by one of her alleged victims.

Malka Leifer, who has been sensationally arrested in Israel, is finally facing extradition proceedings almost a decade after she fled Australia after being accused of abusing female students at the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick in Melbourne. She was principal of the ultraconservative Jewish school at the time and faces 74 allegations of rape and sexual abuse against children.

Since fleeing in 2008 she has managed to avoid extradition by arguing she was too mentally unwell to face court in Australia.

Malka Leifer is alleged to have sexually abused students in her care. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

However, Israeli authorities today swooped on Ms Leifer, who is aged in her 50s, after a month-long undercover investigation by police, which concluded that Ms Leifer was allegedly faking her mental illness.

The development was welcomed by one of Ms Leifer’s alleged victims Dassi Erlich.

“There is an absolute, overwhelming amount of emotion. Not just of myself but of my sisters as well. We have been working really hard on the Bring Leifer Back campaign and for the many, many supporters who have shared this journey of trying to bring some justice,” she told Neil Mitchell on 3AW.

She said she found out from Israel’s Ministry of Justice“late last night”.

“We have met with them while we were in Israel. We generated quite a lot of publicity in Israel,” she said.

“The publicity we raised in Israel … Jewish Community Watch helped them to understand that something more needs to be done and they were involved in operations with the police.”

Ms Erlich said she was “around 14/15 years old” when the alleged abuse took place.

“I was admitted to psychiatric hospital multiple times and suffered from extreme post-partum depression and suicide lethality. It has been a long journey of recovery, a very long journey,” she said.

She said had been in remission from the post-partum depression for “quite a while”.

“I still have anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder that still affects my day-to-day life. I am just coping with it the best of my ability,” she said.

When asked if Ms Leifer’s extradition would it help her she told Mitchell: “Absolutely. It will give us all a sense of closure and also to know she is not able to potentially hurt anybody else and to have our day in court will give us a big sense of closure.”

Ms Erlich said the Ministry of Justice in Israel had told her Ms Leifer would face a domestic hearing on Tuesday in regards to the alleged offences of fraud and impersonation, obstructing justice.

“Then on Wednesday she will face an extradition court and hopefully renew the extradition process,” she said.

Israeli police have issued a statement saying a woman in her 50s from the district of Samaria had been arrested on suspicions of “obstructing court proceedings and attempting to hide evidence of a case’’.

“A police undercover investigation has been underway for a month, following an Interpol request to investigate the suspect, who is wanted in Australia for sexual offences to sisters (minors) while being a teacher and principal at the school where they studied,’’ the police statement said.

“During the investigation evidence was gathered against the suspect.’’

Police said the Israeli Department of International Affairs of the State Attorney’s Office had on August 17, 2014, filed a request with the Jerusalem District Court requesting that the suspect be extradited to Australia.

However, the court in June 2016 stopped the extradition proceedings after determining, “in accordance with the district psychiatrist that the suspect was not fit to stand trial’’.

Malka Leifer’s continued evasion of the allegations has infuriated alleged victims and Australian officials. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

“Over the next six months a psychiatric committee continued to carry out assessments,’’ police said.

“Later the committee convened three times that the suspect was still unfit to stand trial.’’

Police then alleged: “During 2017 there were indications that the suspect was pretending to be suffering from a mental illness in order to avoid the extradition process, and as a result, police opened again an investigation that led to her arrest this morning’’

Ms Leifer is due to attend the Petah Tivka Magistrates Court outside Tel Aviv where police will seek to extend her detention.

“The Department for International Affairs will look into the process of having the suspect extradited to Australia,’’ police said.

Ms Leifer’s continued evasion of the allegations has infuriated alleged victims and Australian officials, who believed members of the ultraconservative Jewish community were protecting her.